Pakistan will import 58 diesel electric locomotives, costing Rs 19.40 billion from an American company under a new deal to improve Pakistan Railways performance, well placed sources told Business Recorder. The government has placed an order with the American company, Caterpillar, to supply 58 locomotives, sources said, adding that the delivery would start in November 2013 and would complete by June 2014.

Pakistan will import 58 diesel electric locomotives, costing Rs 19.40 billion from an American company under a new deal to improve Pakistan Railways performance, well placed sources told Business Recorder. The government has placed an order with the American company, Caterpillar, to supply 58 locomotives, sources said, adding that the delivery would start in November 2013 and would complete by June 2014.

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i fail to understand,who will pay ??

2ndly, if pakis hate americans and decided to boycott american products than why again american products.?

3rdly, what will happen to deeper than bath tub and higher than camel ,allweather friendship with china?

The only certain thing that will happen in this deal is that PR will get Quality product on time--- Provided they manage to make the payment up front, or is Obama Uncle willing to give a loan for this purchase???????

The only certain thing that will happen in this deal is that PR will get Quality product on time--- Provided they manage to make the payment up front, or is Obama Uncle willing to give a loan for this purchase???????

sir, if you listen to Tarek Fateh, the 2 nation theory - the foundation of Pakistan was over when they refused to recognise the elections that were won by Sheikh Mujibbur Rehman. Further as per the gentleman if the 2 nation theory has to exist then the capital of Pakistan has to be Dhaka.

Probably both.
They don't have money to buy used diesel locos from South Korea.
South Korea was prepared to give them the locos at a very low cost as they have migrated to 100% electric railway network.

Even if they buy high power locos, that isn't going to benefit them because, due to use of light rails the axle loading will be low.

And indigenous production route, if not impossible is not distantly possible.

ISLAMABAD: The much-trumpeted project to purchase 150 locomotives from foreign companies this fiscal year has been abandoned, as Federal Minister for Railways Khawaja Saad Rafique has decided to manufacture new engines locally and repair the old ones to save the department from getting more loans.

Sources said on Friday that to save the department from getting more loans, Saad Rafique had decided not to procure foreign-made locomotives or other goods. The department already has to clear Rs70 billion liabilities against loans to different firms and donor agencies.

On the other hand, the departmentâ€™s performance has deteriorated due to the worst financial crunch, making it unable to launch any big scheme in the last one decade to rehabilitate it.In view of this bad situation, the minister believes purchase of foreign-made locomotives will cost millions of dollars thus burdening the department with more loans.

To save the departmentâ€™s position, Saad Rafique has directed cancellation of all agreements with foreign firms, including China and the US, for procurement of locomotives and other rail goods. Instead, he has ordered the authorities concerned to prepare over 58 locomotives at the local level to save money. An amount of Rs500 million has been sanctioned out of which Rs250 million has been released and work has been started on the project. The 58 locomotives will be manufactured at the carriage factories of different railway stations.

Mohammad Ali, Personal Secretary to Khawaja Saad Rafiq, confirmed that the old plan to procure 150 new locomotives from American firms had been dropped and work had been undertaken on the manufacture of 58 locomotives at the local level.

After completion of the project, the locally-made locomotives would be coupled with passenger trains plying different routes. Mohammad Ali was unable to reply how many freight trains would be made operational which was the major source of generating revenue. He said the decision would be taken after the manufacture of locomotives.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Railways has decided to lease out its Risalpur factory to private sector to convert it into a modern, state-of-the-art locomotive manufacturing facility.

The main objective of the move is to manufacture 25 locomotives yearly for the Railways and to unitise any excess capacity for potential export opportunities, according to a project document made available to Dawn.

The private sector consortium would make an upfront payment of Rs1 billion to the Railways after signing of the concession agreement.

The private party would make investment through its own resources without any financial assistance from the locomotive factory or PR to make the plant a successful and self-sufficient unit. The private party would have no access to locomotive factoryâ€™s assets for securing financing for the project.

The locomotive factory in Risalpur was commissioned in 1993 at a cost of Rs2.28bn with the Japanese assistance. Spreading over 100 acres and with production capacity of 25 locomotives in single shift basis, the factory has so far manufactured 97 locomotives and rehabilitated another 26.

The factory has been running into losses with only 97 locomotives manufactured in 21 years instead of estimated 235 locomotives since January 1993.

The Railways has offered the factory to a private sector consortium through the Infrastructure Project Development Facility (IPDF) of the Ministry of Finance.

The factory will partner with the private sector by contributing land and its existing facilities as a form of equity, while the private party will be responsible for upgrading the factory and its operations.

The project would have a possible capacity to export products while still retaining the functions of fulfilling the local railway transportation demand and achieving high delegation levels for the industry.

The concession to private consortium would be for 25 years subject to a manufacturing capacity of at least 25 locomotives a year.

Official statistics showed that the Railways currently has 300 locomotives which are out of service, waiting major repairs. The government is arranging funding of Rs6.1 billion through a consortium of commercial banks for the rehabilitation of 66 held-up locomotives through PRACS.

Rehabilitation of 27 locomotives is being arranged through PSDP at a cost of Rs5.108bn for which an agreement has been signed with a US locomotive manufacturing enterprise.

Special repair of 150 locomotives to improve their reliability and performance was also being carried out through PSDP at a cost of Rs5.005bn. Under this initiative, 20 locomotives would be repaired in 2012-13 and 65 locomotives each in the next two years.

The Executive Committee of National Economic Council (Ecnec) has already approved the procurement of 275 locomotives, and the delivery of first 50 locomotives will start from March 2014. PR has also submitted a proposal to Planning Commission for another 100 locomotives for approval by Ecnec.

The Railways has a total of 515 locomotives, out of which more than 300 are off-track for want of service. Since 2011, the number of locomotives available for use has reduced by an average of 10 locomotives a month. By June 2012, only eight locomotives were available for freight and 92 for passengers. As a result, PR revenue earnings have drastically fallen by 25 per cent.

The worst crisis of the Railways is evident from the fact that the passenger traffic which was 230 trains a day has been reduced to 92 trains daily, while the number of freight trains has dropped from 96 to merely one per day.

the pakistan railway is under Pak Rs. 11.5 billion debt to CHINESE EXPORT AND IMPORT BANK ALONE and this is to be paid with urgency, the debt was taken to buy THE CHINESE ORIGIN LOCOMOTIVE which was a disaster and the locomotives are either in workshops or somewhere on raillines awaiting repair.
the pakistani govt ruled out any more help to PR thus the order of caterpillar locomotive which requires real time payment can not be materialized ( US company want hard cash, they are not as shrewd as the chinese)

the drama of indigenous locomotive is a masked plot to divert attention from a fact that this is the only thing PR and thence Pakistan can do.